Okay, (you know whenever I start a sentence with “Okay” you’re going to be getting a good story) I was headed down to the basement to get something out of the chest freezer. I grabbed one item…it was a box of Lean Pockets. There, I said it. You now know that I officially keep quickie freezer food on hand. Then I decided to grab a second box (yes, I had two!) to bring to the upstairs freezer. While I’m in the chest freezer, I see bacon. Oh, I should bring that up for breakfast! And then I see some lovely homemade bread (see – I don’t eat junk food all the time) so I grab that. So, now I’m juggling a variety cold, slippery bags and boxes. I navigate around the laundry baskets and as I make my way to the stairs, the Ziploc bag with the bread goes squirting out from my arms, up in the air and it lands…directly into the cat’s litter box. (I’d love to say that I’m making this up, but I’m not.) I quickly grab the bag and give it a shake. Because somehow shaking it is supposed to make it better. I use natural litter – wood chips and walnuts and corn and whatever else is in there. (It’s nice smelling actually!) My bag is slightly covered in flecks of chips and whatever else I don’t want to think of. I run upstairs, drop the rest of the armful on the kitchen table and try to figure out what I should do next. I wanted to open the bag, but it seemed that the bread could get contaminated in some way. And I am not going to throw out this bread. Because it’s amazing and special. I’ll wash it! Hot water on, tons of antibacterial dish soap and I’m scrubbing the bag with my bread inside and thinking how utterly ridiculous this all is. After a couple of minutes I’m feeling sufficiently satisfied that I’ve cleaned that bag pretty well. I get a new bag out and like some amazing magician, open the tainted bag, grab the bread and shove it in the new one, as if moving more quickly will make it all better. As I sit here and write this I just think how foolish I was. If I had just taken two trips up and down the stairs, this wouldn’t have happened. If I had taken the time to organize what I was carrying, this wouldn’t have happened. If I had asked my husband to come down and help, this wouldn’t have happened. When we have too much work to do, and don’t want to organize it, or delineate responsibility, chaos ensues. Take the time to do things right, or ask for help. When we don’t pay attention and take the time to do things right, our efforts end up in the litter box.